Letter: Choose a plant-based diet

Sanford RescottSt. Augustine

Published Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Editor: Last week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a milestone report on the effects of diet on chronic diseases throughout the world. Diet-related chronic diseases are responsible for nearly 60 percent of all deaths. They include cardiovascular diseases, several forms of cancer, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis.

The report recommends limiting protein intake to 10-15 percent of total calories, total fat intake to 15-30 percent and saturated fat to less than 10 percent. It recommends raising complex carbohydrate intake to 55-75 percent of calories. These conclusions are based on the collective judgment of 60 independent experts who reviewed the best currently available evidence on diet and health.

In fact, since 1977, no fewer than 15 panels of experts have been convened to study the effect of diet on health. Every one of these panels recommended increased consumption of vegetables, fruits and grains and reduced consumption of animal fat and meat. None reached a contrary conclusion.

In the United States, 1.3 million people die each year of self-inflicted diet-related chronic diseases. If such a toll were inflicted by a new virus, we would be mobilizing all of our health resources and imposing a national quarantine.

How many more expert reports will it take to get Americans to switch to a plant-based diet and stem the national dietary death toll?